Wednesday, January 26, 2005

In lieu of Armstrong Williams's $240,000 handshake from the Bush administration, more editors are surely assigning reporters to investigate whether other "journalists" are on the take. Howard Kurtz of the Washington Postturned up one today: syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher. According to the article, Gallagher had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to promote the President's $300 million marriage initiative in 2002.

Here's a forehead-slapping quote from Gallagher: ""Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it? I don't know. You tell me."

Okay, Maggie - I'll tell you. F#$% yes, you did! Journalists shouldn't take money from organizations they're covering! Why is that so f#$%ing hard to understand? And don't play dumb - you know goddamn well that's a conflict of interest.